The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935)

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Sheridan Gibney (story) and
Pierre Collings (story) ...

Release Date:

February 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Biography of the man who invented pasteurization and made the first vaccine against rabies.

Plot Keywords:

Anthrax | Doctor | Dying In Childbirth | France | Historical

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Paul Muni	...	Louis Pasteur
Josephine Hutchinson	...	Marie Pasteur
Anita Louise	...	Annette Pasteur
Donald Woods	...	Dr. Jean Martel
Fritz Leiber	...	Dr. Charbonnet
Henry O'Neill	...	Dr. Emile Roux
Porter Hall	...	Dr. Rossignol
Raymond Brown	...	Dr. Radisse
Akim Tamiroff	...	Dr. Zaranoff
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Dr. Lister
Frank Reicher	...	Dr. Pfeiffer
Dickie Moore	...	Joseph Meister
Ruth Robinson	...	Mrs. Meister
Walter Kingsford	...	Napoleon III
Iphigenie Castiglioni	...	Empress Eugénie

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G

Company:

Cosmopolitan Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: A newspaper is shown announcing that the government (of France) is appropriating grazing land. The text surrounding the featured item mentions dollars and the Bronx, indicating the text was likely taken from a US newspaper.

Quotes:

Dr. Louis Pasteur: Will you try and explain to Dr. Radisse what we are doing?
[sarcastically]
Dr. Louis Pasteur: He's a member of the Academy of Medicine, so you'll have to use very simple language.
Dr. Emile Roux: We're convinced, Doctor - after eight years of experimenting - that this vaccine, when injected into the animal, will set up an immunity.
Dr. Radisse: Ridiculous! It would take eighty years to convince me.
Dr. Louis Pasteur: Eighty? Aren't you a little optimistic?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in A Day at the Races (1937)

A fine example of what Hollywood has forgotten how to do

"The Stroy of Louis Pasteur" is an example of Hollywood's Golden Era at its best. The first of the Warner Bros "biopics", it can boast of a great performance by Paul Muni, with none of the mannerisms that became a trade mark in the last and sorry years of his career. It was an example of the "good citizenship" that Warner Broa boasted of: a highly educational film that at the same time was very entertaining. The screen play was masterful and won the Oscar it the deserved. Authors Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings were able to dramatize scientific struggles and investigations. This was also the beginning of the most fruitful period in William Dieterle's career, an from that moment on he shared with Michael Curtiz the top assignments at Warner. It is now known that The Story of Louis Pasteur was made with a very low budget. You don't notice it. It is a wonderful show, as was the following year "The Life of Emile Zola" and, with some reservations, "Juarez" in 1939. There are notable performances in the picture by Fritz Leiber and Akim Tamiroff among others.